


Hey You

by monetstcroix



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Desi Potter Family, Desi Sirius Black, Fluff, M/M, Professor Sirius Black, Professors, Remus Lupin Never Went to Hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27768319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monetstcroix/pseuds/monetstcroix
Summary: While filling in for the temporarily incapacitated Transfiguration professor, Sirius finds himself rather fascinated by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts, Remus Lupin.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 24
Kudos: 226





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Hey You" by Pink Floyd.  
>   
> This is unbeta'd, so apologies for any rogue Americanisms or misplaced words. This AU assumes that, without Voldemort, Dumbledore would have retired and gone off to do his own thing, leaving McGonagall in charge of Hogwarts by the time of the 1993-1994 school year.

"This year, we have two new professors. I trust that you all will give them a proper welcome to Hogwarts. Our new Transfiguration professor, Sirius Black, will be taking over for Professor Clearwater, who is still recovering from the, ah, mishap he had this summer," McGonagall - no, Minnie - _no_ , Minerva, Sirius mentally reminds himself in a voice that sounds suspiciously like Lily's - says, giving him a small smile over Lily's head before turning back to the Great Hall. Sirius stands up and gives the students a hearty wave, taking in the masses of inky black robes and the glittering night sky overhead, remembering when he was but a sprog sitting at the Gryffindor table with James. "And our other newcomer is Remus Lupin, who will be taking over your Defense Against the Dark Arts instruction."

Lupin is seated on the other side of McGonagall, so Sirius has to lean around Lily to catch a glimpse of him past red hair brilliant in the candlelight. He doesn't get out of his seat, only raising his hand in acknowledgment and smiling slightly. Even from here, Sirius can see the several thin, silvery scars on his face and his shabby robes, the elbow of his robe clearly darned over. A strong breeze could knock the bloke over. Or perhaps a particularly spirited Flobberworm. Lupin seems to sink back into the shadows as McGonagall carries on with the welcoming speech. Before long, it's time for the feast, and all else is forgotten as Sirius digs in.

-

"Ready for the start of the year, Black? Lesson plans set for the rest of the term?" Lily says dryly as she enters her office to find Sirius leaning back in her chair, his feet on her desk.

"Of course, Evans. You know me, always ten steps ahead."

"So you're just going to wing it, then?" Lily raises an amused eyebrow. "As long as you don’t try to Transfigure yourself into a Cornish Pixie like Professor Clearwater…”

"Nah, I don’t much fancy spending the rest of my life with blue skin or actual wings. At least he’s not eight inches tall anymore," Sirius sits up. "Anyway, what d'you think of that Lupin bloke?"

"He's very nice," Lily says, which is generally well enough, but isn't exactly a sparkling descriptor for someone who's meant to teach the next generation to defend against the likes of ill-intentioned wizards and Dark creatures.

"He doesn't look much older than us. But I don't remember him from school."

"He's our age, actually. And he went to Beauxbatons," Lily responds, now at her cupboard and sorting through the ingredients.

"So he's French? How'd he end up here?"

"Welsh, actually. And you'll have to ask him yourself."

-

Although he hadn't created the detailed outlines that he's seen Lily working on for her classes, Sirius actually does have a plan of sorts for his first week of classes.

He'd met with Minerva prior to his first class and she'd given him her own neatly organized lesson plans. He’d also managed to retrieve from the bowels of Clearwater’s rooms the jumble of notes that the previous professor had, half of his notes scribbled on discarded Chocolate Frog packaging. Sirius flips through everything and immediately tosses out half of Minerva’s lecture notes as well as everything from Clearwater, except the bits on Bird-Conjuring. He also adds in a few handy spells that he's learned in his last ten years of Experimental Transfiguration research to the OWL and NEWT curriculums, such as the Sanskrit variations of Switching Spells and the Rajasthani version of the Ice-Conjuring spell, which is understandably more powerful than the British version. 

It's not that he doesn't understand that the students need to learn about how the magic works and all the theory bits. Minerva had reiterated the importance of ensuring that the fifth and seventh-years were ready for their OWLs and NEWTs. But in the same way that it's unnecessary to have a full understanding of the entire history of flight before getting on a broom, Sirius feels that nattering on about how the magic works before the students can actually get a go at it will only confuse them further. After all, he hadn't needed to understand any of the laws or theorems of Transfiguration to turn his mother's favorite necklace into a pigeon when he was ten. When Walburga had tried to grab at it, it had flown straight out the window, her favorite emerald pendant gone forever. Sirius smiles fondly at the memory.

He’s particularly excited for his inaugural classes on Thursday morning. First up, he's got the Ravenclaw first-years and it will be interesting to see what they know about Transfiguration so far. From the Ravenclaws he knew at Hogwarts, like Xenophilius Lovegood and Pandora Plumkiss, they'll be entertaining to listen to, at the very least. Lily and Sirius had discussed how to get the Muggleborn first-years up to speed, something that she was understandably passionate about, and he should have enough spare time to offer extra tutoring to anyone that needs it. Next, he's got the Gryffindor third-years, including Harry and his best friend Ron. Finally, he's got the Hufflepuff and Slytherin seventh-year NEWT students, which will cover the most complex magic taught at Hogwarts. Minerva had told him that a couple were interested in applying to study Experimental Transfiguration at Oxford like Sirius, so he's curious to see what they've got up their sleeves.

His first class goes swimmingly and a few of the students manage to make some progress on turning their matchsticks into needles after his demonstration. When one of the unsuccessful students starts spouting an outlandish theory about Transfiguration not actually being a real discipline, claiming that they really need to Vanish the matchstick and Conjure a needle in its place without Sirius seeing, Sirius decides it's time for the lecturing bit.

He draws from his past research, explaining that every object has the potential to be anything and how Transfiguration is simply the act of using magic to draw out that potential. Sirius knows that he has a tendency to get a bit soppy about Transfiguration, but it's difficult not to, especially with all he's done in the field over the last several years. However, when he notices a few students getting distracted and chattering with each other, he draws on McGonagall's tried-and-true trick of turning his desk into a great big oinking pig, drawing a suitable amount of ooohs and aaahs. That brings them to the end of the class, and after he takes down the names of a few students that might need extra tutoring, the next class files in.

"Hey, Siri..." Harry starts to greet him before glancing around at his classmates with the sudden dawning embarrassment that his godfather is his professor now.

"Potter, Weasley," Sirius goes along easily, nodding to Harry and Ron. He can't quite imagine having a parent teaching his class. It makes him shudder to think about Walburga or Orion being in the presence of any children with less than pure blood, let alone charged with teaching them magic. Effy or Monty wouldn't have been so bad, although James would probably have perished at a tragically young age from the mortification of having his father be his Potions professor.

Students are meant to learn about Animagi in their third year and Minerva starting out their third year class with a lecture on Animagi is one of the few classes that Sirius can remember paying attention to, especially since it had come in handy later. He still remembers the way that his ears had perked up, how it had felt like a bolt of lightning had hit his brain straight on when McGonagall had started explaining the principles of Human Transfiguration in relation to Animagi, realizing that this was something in his classes that was actually _interesting_. However, Sirius has decided to save the class on Animagi for later since it's not going to be on the practical portion of the exam and build up the anticipation a bit.

He bends behind his desk and picks up a set of opera glasses, a teapot, and a pincushion, then puts it all down on one of the desks in the front, gesturing at all the students to come closer. The girl who's sitting at the desk he's set everything down on looks fascinated, pushing back curls of her thick dark hair as she looks intently at the objects he's laid out.

"See?" Sirius says, getting vague murmurs of assent from most of the students and a very fervent nod from the dark-haired girl in front of him. Well, most of them will be at that level of enthusiasm if he does this right.

He waves his wand, earning exclamations from the students gathered around. In the place of the knickknacks he'd set down is a hooting fluffy grey owl, a doddering old tortoise, and a prickly hedgehog.

"You pay attention, you'll be able to do all this in a wink by the end of this year," he says, turning the animals to objects and then back again, mesmerizing most of them. "And we won't just practice turning bits and bobs into other things. No, we'll get started on learning about Human Transfiguration this year, although it will be a while before you can do it yourself."

The girl in front of him raises his hand and Sirius nods at her. "Like Animagi, sir?"

"Exactly," Sirius says. "In fact, you've got an example in front of you."

"If you don't mind me asking... what animal are you, Professor?" the girl presses, her dark brown eyes intense. Sirius can see Harry in the back of the gaggle of students, suppressing a knowing smile. He'd bribed Harry and Ron with Chocolate Frog cards to not let on that they knew what Sirius's Animagus form was.

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself. And I'm setting all the third-years this challenge, so fifty points will go to the house of the first one that works it out."

"Wouldn't you be listed in the Animagus Registry, sir?" the girl in front of him responds almost immediately. He wonders if she actually bothered with the pre-class reading.

"What's your name?" Sirius asks.

"Hermione Granger."

"That’s not completely wrong, Hermione. Five points to Gryffindor. It used to be mandatory that all Animagi register, but they did away with that law a few years ago. So you can’t cheat and look it up yourself!" Sirius laughs. "Now then, I think we can start with the pincushions to hedgehogs... those will be the easiest since they already have a bit in common, don't they?"

-

"Lupin," Sirius says, knocking on the wooden door frame of Lupin’s office on Friday afternoon. He thinks that it will be interesting to have a chat with the other newcomer about how their first few classes at Hogwarts have gone. Also, Lily had been already busy with grading, mollifying Sirius with a promise to go out for drinks with him and Aurora at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow night before chasing him off, muttering about an upcoming class on Amortentia and the inadequacy of the second-year Potions textbook.

Lupin looks up from the letter he's writing at his desk and smiles a bit. "Hello, Professor Black," he says pleasantly, standing up and coming over. "I was just about to have some tea. Would you care to join me?"

"Sure," Sirius sits down in one of the ruby red armchairs next to the fire as Lupin summons mugs from the cabinet and pours them both cups of steaming Earl Grey.

This side of the room is quite cozy, with the armchairs, brick fireplace, and a fuzzy copper-colored rug that feels soft even through Sirius's boots. There’s a turntable behind one of the chairs, pushed up against the wall, and next to it Sirius can see a rather impressive stack of records on the floor. In contrast, the other half of the room makes him feel a little like he’s underwater or in the Slytherin Dungeons, which he’d visited once to plant Dungbombs in his brother’s trunk. Next to a rusted metal cupboard that’s rattling slightly, there's a large glass tank with a scaly tentacled creature in it, casting a green glow on the stone floor.

"Sugar?" Lupin asks.

"I'm alright," Sirius says and watches Lupin dump what seems to be half the contents of the sugar bowl into his tea. It's oddly endearing.

"I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for my third-years next week," Lupin explains, indicating the glass tank.

"Heard a couple of them talking about the Boggart that you had this week. They loved the lesson, said it was better than reading through the textbook like Dawlish always made them do."

"That's good to hear," Lupin smiles, looking like he genuinely means it. "I've always thought that experience is the best teacher... You can learn quite a bit from books, but it's never the same as actually doing something, is it?"

"Exactly," Sirius says in approval. "My NEWT students have to study theory for the exam, but I have them actually try out the Transfiguration first before trying to dive into the theory portion of it. Even if they can't actually pull the magic off, it still helps them start working it out for themselves."

"The first Transfiguration professor we had at Beauxbatons was the exact opposite of that. He'd go on and on about the properties and laws of Transfiguration, very high-level stuff about how the magic worked, and meanwhile, there we were, twenty eleven-year-olds trying to figure out what any of that had to do with turning mice into smoking pipes..."

"Sounds like a few people I've met. Gits who love the sounds of their own voice more than anything else," Sirius says, reminded of a novice by the name of Lockhart who hadn't lasted long in the Experimental Transfiguration department of Oxford's Morgana College.

"Yes, well, thankfully he got tired of hearing himself talk and we got a new Transfiguration professor the next year who actually picked up a wand once in a while."

"You've learned how to turn a mouse into a smoking pipe then, I trust?" Sirius chuckles. "If not, I can give you a few pointers."

"As much as I'd appreciate a private tutoring session, I managed it eventually," Remus chuckles, his eyes crinkling up a bit at the corners. When he laughs, he seems several years younger, the lines on his face paling in comparison with his smile.

"You know, it's quite interesting how many differences there are between Hogwarts and Beauxbatons," Lupin continues. "It's been interesting getting used to some of them. "

"Like what?"

"The major difference would probably be that we don't have a House system at all... that's a particularly British thing that they weren't eager to echo at Beauxbatons."

"Hmm," Sirius says, trying to imagine what that would be like. "Don't think I'd have met my best friends if I hadn't been sorted into Gryffindor..." He might not have been disowned either, but Sirius doesn't particularly regret that consequence.

"Right, I was surprised by how significant Sorting is here. At Beauxbatons, during the first term, new students are tested on each core magical subject and then they're assigned to permanent dorms based on their strongest area. The Founders thought that would be the best way to bring out each student's natural talents."

"So you must've been with the Defense students," At least Sirius would still be with James in that case. Both of them are ace at Transfiguration.

"Er, I suppose," Lupin says, glancing down at his tea. "Although there it's called _Protections Extraordinaires_ and we have two concentrations... one for magic or _la sorcellerie_ , one for creatures or _les créatures_..."

"Even your French sounds a bit Welsh, d'you know that?" Sirius grins.

"Do you know French?"

"My family's originally Gujarati and French so I know a bit of both, along with some Hindi," Sirius says, thinking that he could stand to hear some more of Lupin's musical-sounding French.

"You'll have to help me keep my French sharp then," Remus smiles, echoing Sirius's thoughts.

-

"Hey, Harry," Sirius says as Harry lingers one day to help him clean up. This lesson had involved Transfiguring pillowcases into chickens, resulting in countless feathers ending up in every nook and cranny of the room.

"Yeah?" Harry says, looking up from the cupboard that he's cleaning out.

"What’s going on with that girl? The Granger girl? Seems like no one else talks to her," Sirius says awkwardly. Although it's only a few weeks into term, he's already noticed the way that the other students titter behind their hands whenever Hermione is the first one to answer a question, which is almost always. He thinks, rather guiltily, that he’d have been one of those students laughing behind her back in school, like how he used to mock Lily for always having her hand up first in Potions classes until James threatened to hex him.

"Er, I guess," Harry says, a confused look on his face. "She’s okay, I guess, but she acts like a know-it-all. Y'know?"

"I know," Sirius mutters, still feeling a sting of shame. "But you could work with her once in a while. You and Ron could both use a bit of help."

"I guess," Harry says with a shrug.

"Just a suggestion," Sirius frowns, feeling rather like he's overstepped, which is a very odd feeling. He wouldn't have liked it much if any of his professors had told him to do something, and in fact, he'd have run off immediately to do the opposite. But lately he's been thinking that he might have turned out a bit better if he'd listened to McGonagall sometimes.

"I'll ask her if she wants to go to Hogsmeade with me and Ron this weekend," Harry finally says after a moment of thought. Sirius smiles gratefully. Harry really is the best of both of his parents, and more. "I think this cupboard is done. I've got to get to my next class. See you, Sirius!"

-

"Hey, Remus," Sirius says, rapping his knuckles on the doorframe. Since the start of term, they've only missed meeting for tea on Friday last week, when Remus had to go visit his mum who’d suddenly taken ill. Luckily, Lily had been able to cover his classes that day. "Is your mum feeling better?"

Remus looks up from where he's sorting through piles of odd objects on his desk, some of which are making rather ominous noises. Despite the motley assortment in front of him, Remus smiles, running a hand through his greying hair. "Yes, she's doing well. Tea?"

Remus's ancient-looking brassy kettle is balanced precariously on the edge of his desk, looking like it's in danger of being pushed off by a pewter contraption of a spider, the object's legs curling and uncurling. Lupin quickly relocates the metallic spider into one of his desk drawers and then joins Sirius by the fire, setting down the teacups on a rough-hewn oak table between the chairs.

"So what's the story with those things?" Sirius asks, indicating the clutter on Lupin's desk.

"I'm planning to have a lesson on Cursed objects for my fifth-years soon, but I haven't been able to track down many. Obviously I don't want to bring anything very dangerous into class, but most of these wouldn’t do much more than make a Flobberworm cough."

"Oh, I've got loads of Cursed objects. You can have some," Sirius says, thinking of the rooms at Grimmauld Place practically filled to bursting with curses and hexes. Regulus claims that he's been cleaning the place out now that their parents have kicked it, but the last time that Sirius had been there, it had been clear that Reggie needed a kick in the rear to get things started. Remus raises his eyebrows.

"Family," Sirius says, waving a dismissive hand. "How many do you think you need?"

"I was going to have them study the objects in small groups, so... about twenty? As long as I'm not imposing..." Remus says. Even though his eyebrows are still skeptically raised, he looks interested, his eyes fixed on Sirius.

"Yeah, that should work. I haven’t looked in on my brother in a while, so I’ll go see him next weekend and pick some up then. You can take a look at them and see if they'll work."

"I'd be very appreciative if you could do that," Remus smiles. "Thank you, Sirius."

"Any time. We professors have got to help each other out.”

"Yes."

-

"Hello, Sirius," Sirius looks up to see Remus knocking on the open door to his office.

"Er, I thought you might like to have some tea," Remus says, looking a bit sheepish.

Sirius glances out the window at the setting sun casting the sky in darkening shades of pink and purple, and feels a brief flash of irritation with himself for losing track of time.

"Of course," Sirius says. "I got sidetracked writing recommendation letters. A few of my NEWT students want to apply for a degree in Experimental Transfiguration."

"Sorry, I can come back later - "

"No, no," Sirius says quickly, getting up. "I'm just about done. But since it's getting late, I could do with something a bit stronger..."

"You'd like your teabag to be steeped a bit longer than usual?" Remus says, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Close," Sirius says, unlatching the cabinet door and withdrawing a full bottle of Ogden's.

"Been saving that for a special occasion, have you?" Remus asks, sitting down in one of the armchairs near the fire. Sirius pours them both generous glasses of Firewhiskey, the amber liquid glinting in the firelight, and then hands one to Remus, sinking into the armchair across from him.

"Any occasion can be special if you put in the effort," Sirius says, clinking their glasses together.

"Fair enough," Remus smiles, sipping at his Firewhiskey. "You know, I heard a few of the students talking about you being an Animagus. I couldn't help but be curious myself."

"You'll just have to guess along with the rest of them. You get three tries at it," Sirius grins. Before term, he'd toyed with the idea of starting off his first class with an Animagus transformation like McGonagall, but after thorough discussion with James, he'd decided that it would be more entertaining - for all involved - if he had the students try to work it out.

"I'm sure that I can work it out. Perhaps through the process of elimination. It's very difficult to imagine you as something like a snake or rat, Sirius," Remus smiles, his brown eyes warm. "When did you become one?"

"During my first couple of years in Experimental Transfiguration," Sirius explains. "I got interested in Animagi, so I had to try out for myself. And then my best mate James wanted to see if he could do it too, since I was always the only one better at Transfiguration than him in school. We managed it together after a year. It just takes time to work out the whole process, but it's not so difficult. I could have probably figured it out earlier if I wanted to."

"Sure," Remus laughs, a bright and cheerful sound. Sirius can't believe that he ever thought this bloke was plain. It's like he lights up the entire room when he laughs. Sirius leans on one arm as he looks at Remus, and he's not sure whether the warm glow in his chest is from the Firewhiskey or from Remus himself.

"It's not so hard. Anyone could do it. I'll say that it's pretty great being able to turn into a certain unspecified animal whenever I want."

"I do sometimes wish that I could be an Animagus," Remus says thoughtfully, his voice softening almost as if he's talking to himself.

"Why not? I'll show you,” Sirius says eagerly. Remus's smile suddenly fades.

"I can't," he says, his face shuttering as he turns away from Sirius, staring intently into the flames of the fireplace.

"Remus, you're saying that as if I haven't seen how brilliant you are. I'm sure that you could do it," Sirius presses. Remus stands up, shaking his head, and Sirius feels a cold sting of disappointment in his chest.

"I'm afraid that I've never been much good at Transfiguration. You're meant to be teaching your students, not fellow teachers," Remus says, his expression carefully blank as if he's building a wall between himself and Sirius. Before Sirius can protest, remembering how enthusiastically Remus had discussed Tesfaye’s Thirteenth Theorem of Transfiguration with him last week, both of them talking at each other in a mishmash of English and French, Remus continues. "I'm sorry. It's late and I should let you have dinner."

He leaves through the door before Sirius can persuade him otherwise. Sirius sighs, looking at the mostly-full bottle of Firewhiskey in front of him and decides that he'll go bother Lily until he feels better.

-

"Alright, Remus?" Sirius says, knocking on the door frame as he uses his wand to direct the floating trunk in front of him into Remus's office.

"Yes, everything's fine," Remus says quickly, nearly dropping the sheaf of parchment that he's leafing through. "Just, er, I've been dealing with some family issues. I apologize if I was... abrupt last week..."

"Don't worry about it. Just hope everything's all right," Sirius says, setting down the trunk in front of Remus's desk. Or at least not at the level of his own family issues.

"It is, thank you," Remus says, glancing down at the trunk.

"I've got your Cursed objects here," Sirius explains, bending down to work the locks open. "Don't worry, all the curses are deactivated until you say the countercharm... handy trick I learned in Auror training."

Remus squats down next to him. " _Dormus_? My father taught me that Charm.”

Sirius nods. “Your dad worked with Cursed objects?”

“Yes, er, that’s why we moved to France. My father specialized in Boggart removal and eventually branched out into Cursed object disposal. After he passed away a few years ago, my mam and I moved back to Wales since she wanted to be back home,” Remus explains. Sirius thinks of the cabinets at Grimmauld Place practically overflowing with Cursed objects despite (or because of, rather) Regulus and Kreacher’s efforts in cleaning the place out. He reckons that Remus’s father could have found plenty of business in Britain and made a fortune off the Blacks alone, but Remus’s voice interrupts his thoughts. “I didn't know that you were in Auror training, Sirius. It's a bit of a leap from that to research and teaching."

"Yeah. When I finished school, I couldn't imagine doing anything like it ever again. I thought that being an Auror would be the perfect thing for me. But I couldn't even get through training."

"Why not?"

"You know my family, the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?" Sirius asks, looking up at Remus. Remus shakes his head, genuinely looking bemused. Sirius nearly doesn't want to go on, wanting to bask in his ignorance instead. "Well, long story short, they're the biggest pureblood wankers this side of Europe. Pastimes consist of Dark magic and marrying their cousins, among other equally lovely things. I ran away when I was sixteen and moved in with my best mate's family. Thought I was done with that lot, until Auror training."

"Did you have to arrest them?"

Sirius laughs bitterly. "I wish. No, we'd track down some Muggle attack or Dark artifact to one of my bloody relatives, they'd slip one of my superiors some Galleons, and then I'd be told that, oh, they were innocent. Oh, yes, they really did have an alibi and never mind my brand-new robes and Firebolt. You get the idea. And the worst part was that then the Auror department would turn around and treat whoever they considered 'Dark creatures' like bloody shite. Telling me that I needed to write up that vampire bloke just because he lived a flat over from a Cursed wardrobe, acting like that little girl hexed by Dark wizards deserved it because she happened to be a werewolf, taking in Veelas for questioning even when they were nowhere near the scene of the crime... I wouldn't do it. It didn't take them long to toss me out."

Remus is staring at him, eyes intent on Sirius's face as if he is hanging off every word. He takes a deep breath and composes himself. "I think that you did the right thing, Sirius."

"Yeah, well," Sirius says, undoing the last lock with a satisfying click. "I'm glad that I'm here at Hogwarts instead of one of those bloody Auror gits."

"That makes two of us," Remus says softly. He puts a hand down on the warm leather of the trunk, inches from Sirius's hand. "Shall we?"

-

The day after Halloween, Sirius wakes up craving chocolate. More specifically, the Muggle chocolates that Lily has squirreled away in a locked desk drawer. Even more specifically, Mint Aeros.

After breakfast, Sirius strides to Lily's office. He pushes open the door, expecting to find the room empty since Lily is staunchly against getting out of bed before noon on Sundays, but there's a figure in a familiar shabby robe rummaging through the cupboard, his head blocked by the dark wooden door of the cupboard.

"Remus," Sirius says and the man jerks, nearly slamming his head on the door.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asks, stepping forward as Remus takes a deep breath, trying to regain his composure. He looks dreadful, pale with large grey bags under his eyes, his grey-brown hair messy.

"Yes. I'm fine," Remus says shortly with a rough voice that sounds like he's been screaming all night. He looks away, staring at the stone wall as if it's suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. "Just a bit poorly."

"What were you looking for?" Sirius questions. "Lily's got an odd method of organizing things. She does it alphabetically instead of by color... I can help you find it."

"Pain potion," Remus says quietly, hunching into himself as if he's ashamed.

"Here's some Jayflower Potion... and some Valerian Draught," Sirius says, plucking out a large jar full of blue liquid and a tiny bottle filled with a sparkling purple solution.

"They're... er, not strong enough," Remus mutters, now looking as if he wants the floor to open up and swallow him whole. Sirius briefly considers telling him that that's only a possibility in the second floor Ancient Runes classroom on Wednesdays and then discards it. "I was hoping that she'd have some Ratibida Refecto..."

"Nope, not in here," Sirius glances at Remus, who's now leaning against Lily's desk, looking even paler. And if Valerian Draught isn't enough, he must be in agony right now. Sirius has never taken Ratibida Refecto and has only had Valerian Draught once when he'd broken an arm and leg during a Quidditch match and Pomfrey was out of Skele-gro. "She might have a powdered version of it... let me check in her back room."

"Alright. Thank you."

Sirius unlocks the back room and looks around the small room. Lily had complained at length to James and Sirius about how much time she'd had to spend cleaning out Slughorn's potions stores, but she's clearly done a good job of it. It's very tidy in here and Sirius quickly locates a jar of fine red dust labeled as "Ratibida Refecto" in Lily's neat handwriting.

"Here we go," Sirius says, stepping back into the office. "I just need to add some hot water and Dittany to get this ready."

"If you... I don't want to inconvenience you..." Remus says hesitantly, like he isn't about to keel over.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sirius says, waving a dismissive hand. He grabs a spare cauldron from the stacks against the back wall and clears Lily's desk with a flick of his wand, setting up the cauldron with a flame under it and filling it with water. With another flick of his wand, he turns the desk chair squashy and comfortable.

"Tea?" Sirius asks, and Remus nods, still holding himself up on the desk.

"Only if you sit down in that chair," Sirius continues breezily as he summons the kettle. It's a measure of how ill Remus must be that he doesn't protest further, sitting down into the newly Transfigured armchair.

As the kettle and cauldron boil over, Sirius goes over to the windowsill where several plants are growing in pots, including a large bunch of Dittany. He plucks several leaves, thanking Merlin for Lily Evans, and returns to the desk.

"Lily's got all this set up quite nicely," Sirius comments as he stirs enough sugar to anger one of those Muggle dermatologists that Lily's mentioned into an orange mug of Earl Grey tea, pushing it Remus's way. As Remus sips his tea, Sirius empties a measure of powdered Ratibida Refecto along with the Dittany leaves into the cauldron and stirs. "This will be ready in a minute..."

As if it's heard him, the potion starts bubbling pleasantly, turning a bright orange color, and Sirius nods in approval. He summons a blue Puddlemere United mug and ladles some of the potion into it, handing it to Remus.

Remus drinks the potion down in one go, draining the mug before Sirius can even get another word out. "I can never get used to that taste," Remus mutters, wrinkling his nose in a rather endearing way. He already looks a bit better, Sirius notes with satisfaction. "You'd expect it to taste like anything but boiled cabbages."

Sirius is unsure what to make of the revelation that Remus regularly partakes in one of the strongest pain potions in existence, so he shrugs and barrels on. He'll work it out eventually. And if he doesn't, he'll pester Lily until she finally gives in and tells him.

"D'you want some of these Muggle sweets?" Sirius says instead, unlocking the desk drawer to reveal a pile of enticing brightly wrapped chocolates. He takes an Aero, and for the second time that morning, he thanks Merlin for Lily Evans.

"I'm alright. I have quite a bit of grading to finish. Thank you very much, Sirius," Remus says abruptly, his manner overly casual. He's out of the room before Sirius can press him further.

-

Remus appears at his door, looking rather worse for the wear, on Friday night. The lines on his face seem deeper than usual and there are grey bags under his eyes. Sirius is reminded of that run-in they'd had a month ago in Lily's office. Although Remus had seemed back to normal the next time they’d had tea together, he’d refused to acknowledge that Sunday morning, quickly changing the subject to the rogue Kneazle colony he'd run into once on the outskirts of Madrid in the years he'd spent backpacking around Western Europe.

"Alright, Remus?" Sirius says, glancing at the kettle and wondering if he should opt for the usual tea or go with Firewhiskey again even though the previous time had ended rather disastrously. Lily has mentioned that Firewhiskey can have medicinal qualities...

"I was wondering if I could ask another favor of you," Remus says carefully, almost as if he's rehearsed these words.

"Of course, anything," Sirius says, feeling a flicker of concern as he turns back to Remus.

"My mother's taken ill again. Do you think..." Remus starts and Sirius nods.

"D'you need me to take your classes?"

"Just the one at ten tomorrow morning with the Ravenclaw fifth-years. Lily can take the afternoon one..."

"Yeah, I can do that," Sirius says. "What's the lesson?"

"They're studying Cursed objects, like the two of us discussed. I have a few notes you can look at, but for the most part, I was going to let them study the objects on their own..." Remus says.

"Yeah, I can handle that. Spent half my childhood dodging those things, I can certainly teach one class on them," Sirius says, patting Remus on the arm.

"Thank you, Sirius. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you..."

"'Course. Tell your mum that I hope she feels better."

Remus smiles thinly and Sirius feels like he’s missing something. "I will."


	2. Chapter 2

Every year, a Hogwarts staff party is held for the holidays the weekend before the Christmas holiday starts where all the professors gather with their spouses and get properly sloshed. If James and him had caught wind of this when they were students, they’d certainly have planned something grand, but Sirius thinks that he’s content to just enjoy the party going on around him now. He glances around the room decorated for the holidays, garlands, tinsel, and red and green streamers everywhere, along with little pixies conjured by Filius fluttering around the room and trailing gold dust everywhere. Next to the Christmas tree laden with glittering ornaments, Sybill is attempting to lecture a very resistant Aurora about astrology and Rolanda is snogging her wife, both of them clearly gone on Firewhiskey already. The whole scene is punctuated by Charity’s slightly drunk singing of Christmas carols, which is a step up from “A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love”. Looking over the scene, Sirius grins, adjusting his red and green cap trimmed with white, feeling quite festive. 

There's a tap on his shoulder and he turns to see Remus, who’s smiling and offering Sirius a glass of eggnog to match his own. He’s looking quite festive himself, with a little sprig of holly pinned to the lapel of his robes. “Thanks, I -“ Sirius starts to say before he sees a familiar head of messy hair with thick rectangular glasses poking through the open door.

"I still remember the way here! I told you, I know Hogwarts so well, I reckon I could make a whole map of it," James declares cheerfully, striding over to give Sirius a bone-crushing hug. He’s got on a pair of faux antlers festooned in shiny silver tinsel and Sirius feels a warm surge of affection for the berk. Even though James's family has never really celebrated Christmas, James eagerly takes any opportunity to carouse and be jolly. 

"Memory of an Erumpent, never mind that this room is a hundred feet from the entrance," Sirius laughs, finally pulling away.

"Ah, finally reunited with my other half," James says, squeezing Sirius soundly round the shoulders. Sirius notices that Remus is suddenly looking very disappointed, frowning slightly at James. "And who's this?"

Remus's look of dismay is quickly replaced by a polite, blandly pleasant smile as he steps forward, offering James his hand. "I'm Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. And you are...?"

"James Potter," James says, bypassing Remus's outstretched hand and pulling him into a hug. Remus briefly looks startled but then seems to accept it, patting James's back with a small smile on his face. "Sirius and Lily have told me about you. We thought that no one could fill Dawlish's shoes, but it sounds like you've done it."

"Thank you, James... You must be Lily's husband?" Remus asks, his smile growing warmer, reaching his eyes now.

"That's right, mate," James says. "Speaking of Lily, where is she?"

"Helping Pomona doctor the Butterbeer. I'm looking forward to trying it."

James laughs. "We're going to have a grand time tonight, just like the good old days. Has Sirius told you about that time with the Firewhiskey and nifflers?"

With the aid of Ogden’s, spiked Butterbeer, and Lily who’s already quite tipsy, James embarks on the mission of recounting their most notable adventures to Remus, who's an attentive audience.

"Speaking of things that shouldn't be enchanted, Sirius magicked a great big honking Muggle moto-bicycle into flying," James says.

"Motorbike," Sirius and Lily automatically correct in unison, even though Sirius is having a difficult time focusing on anything other than the look of interest on Remus's face.

"He's talked me into riding it a few times, but I don't fancy it much," Lily says. "I'd rather fly on a broom or go on a motorbike the Muggle way. Not both at once."

"It's all right," James says. "But I prefer a proper broom. Suppose I'm old-fashioned that way."

"I've ridden on an enchanted scooter a few times, which is a bit similar," Remus says. "At relatively low speeds, mind you. But, Sirius, your bike can't be much more dangerous than what I use to get around."

"Oh yeah?" Sirius asks, raising an eyebrow.

"My ride is called _Le Dragon_. I'm of the mind that if I can handle it, I can handle anything, short of an actual dragon. It's quite temperamental..."

"Is it?"

"It's on its last twigs, so to speak, and it tries to buck me off more often than not, but I usually manage to stay on with minimal injury..." Remus looks like he's trying to suppress a chuckle, but he manages to continue with a reasonably composed smile. James has already succumbed, his laughter loud in Sirius's ear and Lily is giggling slightly. "It's a Cleansweep... oh, Four?”

"Tell you what, I'll give yours a ride and you can give mine a go," Sirius chuckles and preemptively elbows James in the ribs before he can come in with one of his trademark innuendos. It's a very well-practiced reflex. Sirius’s face feels oddly warm and he wonders what else he could do to get that smile on Remus's face, what he could do to get Remus to break out in full-on laughter.

"I'd like that," Remus’s cheeks look rather pink and Sirius can’t help hoping that it’s not completely due to the alcohol.

"Bet you a Sickle that Sirius will get thrown off yours in five minutes," James cuts in, clapping Remus on the shoulder.

"I'll add another on top of that," Lily says.

"So little confidence in me," Sirius says, eyeing them both reproachfully.

"I have confidence in you, my fellow professor," Remus nods, putting on a mock-solemn expression. "The fate of my two Sickles are riding on you, Sirius."

"I won't disappoint you," Sirius grins, warmth blooming in his chest as Remus chuckles.

Soon, Lily gets hungry and James conscripts Sirius to help him gather food for all of them from the impressive array of dishes that the house-elves have set up.

"So what's the story with you and that Lupin bloke?" James whispers loudly as Sirius loads his plate up with pudding.

"What d'you mean?" Sirius asks, knowing very well what he means.

"You've spent the entire evening staring at him like you want to snog him silly."

"I don't... we work together," Sirius puts up the token protest, knowing that there’s nothing James enjoys more than barreling through them, encouraging Sirius to do any mad thing that catches his fancy. He’s really missed James.

"I've seen the sort of blokes you fancy. He's your type," James gives him a knowing look. "And he's not a boring swot like most of them. He's actually got a sense of humor. And he's probably got a few interesting stories behind those scars."

"You’re right about all that.”

"You said that McGonagall probably wouldn’t need you here for longer than a year anyway, just until Clearwater gets back to being mostly human,” James shrugs, nearly dislodging a roast chicken. "If you'll be leaving anyway, why not give it a shot?"

"Why not," Sirius repeats to himself. As long as James doesn’t attempt to make Sirius try out any of his tried-and-failed seduction tactics. The last time Sirius had listened to one of James’s date ideas, the poor bloke he'd been seeing had ended up in the Thames. He sights a familiar black-cloaked figure and waves her over.

“Hello, Minerva,” Sirius says brightly. “James here was just telling me about Puddlemere’s season and I knew that you’d be interested. They’re on track to break records, did you know that?”

Sirius neatly grabs Lily’s plate from James’s arms as Minerva draws him into a discussion about Puddlemere’s Keeper who’s a recent graduate of Hogwarts, knowing that McGonagall and James will be occupied for the rest of the evening with Quidditch talk. He feels very pleased with himself. Now he has plenty of time to work out this thing with Remus. 

-

"You know, I should have realized immediately that James was Harry's father... they could be twins," Remus shakes his head. It’s the final Friday before the holiday and their usual weekly Earl Grey has been traded for Firewhiskey again, the burn of it bright and welcome against Sirius’s tongue as he leans back in his chair, sinking into the plush warmth of it.

"Right, except he's got Lily's eyes. He's his own lad though," Sirius says. "You know, we all expected that his best subject would be Transfiguration like James or Potions like Lily or Charms like the both of them, but it's turned out to be yours."

"Harry has a knack for the subject. He's one of my best students and I enjoy having him in class.”

"Yeah, and he told James that you’re his favorite professor. I suppose that you get some extra points for not being his mum or godfather though..."

"Just a few," Remus murmurs, looking slightly embarrassed. But he also looks quite pleased, Sirius notes.

Remus crosses over to his turntable as Sirius sips his drink, putting on what he quickly recognizes as Led Zeppelin.

“This is one of my favorites,” Sirius says as “Black Dog” comes to an end. He wonders if Remus will pick up on the hint.

“You know them? Most wizards have no clue where most of my music comes from… they just call it all funny Muggle caterwauling,” Remus says, smiling broadly.

“Lily made sure James and I received a proper musical education,” Sirius explains. “She said she’d leave him if we kept on listening to nothing but Celestina Warbeck and Stubby Boardman.”

“I can’t blame her,” Remus laughs and Sirius wants to bury himself in that sound. “So, anyway, I’ve been thinking about your Animagus form. I have a few ideas…”

“Yeah? Remember, you only get three guesses.”

“Hmm,” Remus says, biting his lip slightly and looking like he’s actually deep in thought, which Sirius finds very, very endearing. “I know it’s a bit on the nose, but are you a.. lion?”

“Nope,” Sirius responds. “Well, I suppose all Gryffindors are lions, but I can’t actually turn into one. Shame, might be a nice show of House pride.”

"I’ll get it next time,” Remus says easily, still sounding cheerful as he comes back to sit down across from Sirius with a newly-topped off glass of Firewhiskey. “Happy Christmas, Sirius.”

“Happy Christmas, Remus.”


	3. Chapter 3

"What d'you think Dumbledore's up to now, anyway?" Sirius asks, laying down on the sofa. Even though they’ve just had a few weeks off for the Christmas holiday, he doesn’t much fancy getting back to work, to the repetitive routine of classes and grading.

"It's still odd not to think of him as our Headmaster, isn't it?" Lily responds as she comes over with two mugs of steaming tea. "Last I heard from Filius, he was involved in something called the... Order of the Peacock?"

"Pomona said something similar, but she told me it was called the Organization of the Phoenix."

"Well, we'll just split the difference and call it the Organization of the Peacock, I suppose," Lily says, sitting down on the sofa and making Sirius move his feet up with a grumble. He quickly settles them back on her lap, making her roll her eyes even as she laughs.

"Don't do that around Remus, otherwise it won't take him long to cotton on that you're a dog, and a very lazy one at that."

Sirius chuckles. "So what does this Peacock group do? Pomona reckoned it was some sort of Quidditch club for old-timers, but that sounds dull. And you know James would've heard something about that and told us by now."

"Filius said that it was a competitive Gobstones team," Lily shrugs. "That sounds a bit anticlimactic to me too. I just hope that Dumbledore's spending his time doing something that he enjoys."

"Yeah. I suppose he'd be in need of a change after all these years," Sirius says, staring up at the stone ceiling. He squints at an oddly-shaped crack, trying to figure out whether it looks more like a hippogriff or dragon. "Anyway, d'you think that you want to continue teaching here for a while?"

"I liked working at St. Mungo's, but this is so much more interesting. There's never a dull moment. You know James is the same way,” Lily says thoughtfully.

"Makes sense," Sirius says, recalling what had happened to James years ago. After he had been hexed by a Cannons supporter, James hadn't been able to fly at speeds fast enough to play Quidditch competitively without getting violently ill. He'd spent a year out of work recovering before Puddlemere United had taken him on as an assistant coach a few years ago. Knowing that James hated being stuck at home unable to do what he loved, Sirius had drawn James into his plan to become an Animagus and it had worked out marvelously as a diversion.

"Maybe I'll change my mind in the future, but who knows? Right now, I'm quite happy here.” Lily continues as she summons some chocolate from the treasure trove of her desk drawer. 

"And what about you? Not too much stability and routine for you, Black?" Lily asks, unwrapping her Mars Bar.

"You know, I thought I'd be crawling up the walls the second week in, that it would all get old quickly and I'd be stuck here miserable for the rest of the year."

“And are you?”

“Just a bit. But the students keep it interesting. They come up with things that I’ve never even thought of, and it’s almost like I’m seeing it a different way through each of their eyes. Bit soppy, isn’t it?”

"No, I completely understand what you mean," Lily gives him a knowing smile, handing him a Mint Aero. "Sirius Black, Hogwarts professor. Wonders will never cease."

-

Sirius doesn't much like rounds, but at least it gives him a chance to stretch his legs. He heads down the corridor to the Charms classroom and is immediately greeted with Sybill Trelawney's figure cloaked in several shawls.

"How are you, Sybill?" Sirius asks, surprised to see her out of her tower. She usually only comes out for meals, having managed to beg off going on rounds with the claim that she can't be occupied in case a vision comes to Minerva's visible irritation. Sirius wishes that he'd thought of that excuse first.

Trelawney whirls around, blinking rapidly at him as she settles her glasses on her face. She quickly wipes the look of surprise off her face, replacing it with a serene smile, which immediately raises Sirius's suspicions. He knows that look very well, that overly innocent smile meant to say _No, Professor, I really truly solemnly swear that I'm not up to no good_. He's the one who invented it, for Merlin's sake.

"Hey, Fred. Where's George?" Sirius guesses and is immediately rewarded by the slight faltering of Trelawney's smile before she covers it up, and the way that Trelawney-Fred's eyes flit to the side, towards the old Ancient Runes classroom at the end of the hall.

"My name is Sybill, as you know, Sirius! And the Sight tells me that George Weasley is studying in the library. In all my years, he's one of the best students that I've had the pleasure to - "

"The only Hogwarts student who's spent any less time in the library than you two was me," Sirius laughs, cutting off Fred and turning towards the apparently not-so-abandoned classroom. "Let's see what George is up to."

Fred clears his throat loudly, their clearly-agreed upon signal - Sirius and James had used a loud sneeze which was a bit more conspicuous - as Sirius strides forward. He pushes open the door and is unsurprisingly greeted with the sight of George Weasley in front of a steaming cauldron. However, instead of the smug smile that Sirius had expected, George is choking and he's grown odd ginger fur all over his face.

" _Reenervate_!" Sirius reaches George in two quick strides and casts the spell, Auror training kicking in. His twin follows Sirius, looking frantic.

"What did you do?" Sirius demands. George's choking has stopped, but his eyes are shut and new tufts of fur keep sprouting all over his face. At least his chest is still rising and falling.

"We, er, we only wanted to - "

"What?"

"Just use the Polyjuice Potion to play a little trick... he was going to be Professor Lupin..."

Sirius cuts him off. "Get Pomfrey. Professor Potter too, if you can find her."

Thankfully, it doesn't take long for Pomfrey to arrive and they quickly ferry George, along with a bespectacled Fred Weasley, to the Hospital Wing. Lily arrives soon after to look George over.

"He'll be alright," Lily tells Sirius once she's finished her examination. "Polyjuice Potion, if brewed incorrectly, can have disastrous effects, but the antidote is simple. Luckily, it was discovered recently, by, ah, Severus..."

Sirius nods, biting down on his tongue and forcing himself to let that mention pass without comment.

"He should need no more than a day to recover," Lily continues.

"Guess we can pile the detention on him, then," Sirius says and she nods in agreement, looking stern. Sirius mentally doubles the amount of detention that he had been planning to give the twins.

"Did they brew separate batches?" Sirius wonders aloud. "Fred's seemed to turn out just fine."

"Oh, er, they must have," Lily says quickly. She's always been rubbish at lying, but Sirius can't understand what she'd possibly be trying to cover up in this situation.

"I thought I only saw one cauldron."

"They must have thrown the other one out, or added another ingredient before George took his dose," Lily tries to give him a confident smile, doing her best impression of James. But there's a reason that the one time she tried to join them in their mischief-making, a prank at the very end of seventh year that involved conjuring pink feather boas for all the suits of armor just to "finally see what she was missing out on", she immediately got caught by Filch.

"Sure, Evans," Sirius says and doesn't miss her sigh of relief.

"A month of detention each?" Lily asks, moving on quickly. "It's a shame that we had to find out this way that they were capable of brewing the Polyjuice Potion... I'll have to persuade them to take NEWT Potions..."

"Good luck with that," Sirius says. Fred and George are both talented students, but they're not the type who prize having top marks. He remembers hearing them whispering about a prank shop in class the other week before turning to Sirius and asking him if he reckoned it was possible to enchant sweets to Transfigure the consumer's appearance. Sirius had welcomed the diversion from the boring business of reviewing Switching Spells and offered them twenty points each if they managed to work it out for themselves. "Anyway, think I'll go tell Remus about what happened."

"He should know. Good idea, Sirius."

"And since I'm taking him, you can handle Trelawney," Sirius grins, sweeping out of the room and down to Remus's office before Lily can protest.

"Hey, Remus," Sirius says, knocking at the open door and stepping in. Remus is absorbed in feeding the Hinkypunk he's got this week, but he gives Sirius a small noise of acknowledgment. "Word with you."

"Yes, Sirius?" Remus asks, setting down a glass container full of an odd fuzzy green substance on his desk. He looks relaxed, smiling slightly and leaning on his desk as Sirius approaches.

"The Weasley twins were planning a little prank that involved you..."

"Were they? I'm a bit disappointed that they were caught, it might have shaken up our lesson today..."

"Yeah, well, this was a pretty ambitious one... they managed to brew some Polyjuice Potion to turn into Trelawney and you. Fred's worked, but I guess George mucked up yours somehow and he got sick."

Remus pales immediately, one of his hands clutching at the desk.

"Did he really?" Remus says, looking as if he's about to be rather ill himself.

"Yeah. They both got a month of detention," Sirius says, but that doesn't seem to be of any reassurance to Remus.

"But George will be alright?" Remus asks desperately as he tugs a hand through his hair.

"He'll be fine. Just a stupid prank... my best mate and I got ourselves into worse..."

"And you're here alive and well..." Remus says, forcing a smile that looks quite pained.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Are you alright, Remus?"

"Never better. Er, I think the Hinkypunk needs some feeding... excuse me, Sirius."


	4. Chapter 4

"Guess what?" James says as Sirius drains his glass of Butterbeer. He sets it down next to his empty plate, the Chinese takeaway that James had ordered completely polished off through the combined efforts of Sirius, Lily, Harry, and James. Both Lily and Harry have gone to bed, but Sirius and James are still up, talking over drinks and planning how to take advantage of the fact that they're all home for the Easter holidays. It's getting rather late though and Sirius thinks that he's nearly ready to tuck in himself.

"What?" Sirius says, stretching his arms over his head with an impressive yawn.

"You're getting old, mate, if you're already about to fall asleep. It's only half eleven," James chortles and Sirius pokes him in the side.

"You're the one with a wife and kid, that adds at least ten years to your age. Anyway, what is it?"

"Your favorite Defense professor's coming over for lunch with his mum next weekend," James says brightly.

"How'd you..." Sirius starts, even though he should be more than familiar with James's ability to badger into friendship anyone that he sets his sights on. He'd even managed to get Galvin Gudgeon playing nice with the rest of the team.

"Well, when I came for the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw Quidditch match last week to scout out the seventh years, we sat together since you were busy refereeing and Lily was giving extra tutoring. He mentioned that they had no plans for the holiday, so I suggested that they pop in. He didn't want to impose at first, you know how Remus is, but then I told him we'd be having my mum's chole and that sealed the deal," James explains as if he and Remus are grand old friends, which is probably halfway on its way to being true.

"You know I'll have to do all the work because you and Lily are rubbish at cooking," Sirius tries to grumble through his smile.

-

"Professor Lupin's coming soon," Harry says, looking dismayed as he tries to smooth down his messy hair. James grins, ruffling it all up again.

"Worried your mum and dad will embarrass you?" Sirius says as he bats James's hand away from Harry's head. "Don't worry, we'll all be good. I'll make sure they don't tell him about your pyjamas with the little Snitches on them."

"Hey!" Harry starts to protest, but then there's a knock at the door.

"It's him!" Sirius hisses, striding to the door and very fervently ignoring the knowing smile on James's face.

"Hello, Sirius," Remus and his mum, a tiny woman that has similarly-colored brown hair - without the grey - and warm brown eyes, both smile up at him.

"Hi," Sirius says, feeling oddly anxious as he takes a step back to let them in.

"I'm Hope," the woman says, holding her hand out. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Sirius. Remus has told me so much about you."

"Has he?" Sirius shakes her hand, glancing at Remus, whose cheeks look faintly pink. Even though she's half Sirius's size, her grip is strong. It's difficult to imagine her taking ill as often as Remus says she does.

"A bit," Remus murmurs as his mother laughs.

"He also told me about Lily and her husband James," Hope says, turning to the Potters. "And of course, about you, Harry! It's so nice to finally meet all of you."

"Thank you, er, Mrs. Lupin," Harry says, looking like he can't decide whether he wants to be embarrassed or pleased.

"Oh, call me Hope," Sirius hears her tell Harry as they all follow Lily to the dining room. Lily gets them all seated as James summons snacks (pani puri, prepared by Sirius with Harry's help and kept from getting soggy with a Charm) and drinks (Butterbeer for Harry and proper beer for the rest) from the kitchen.

"I always envy your ability to do that," Hope says. "Of course, the first time he tried that, Remus spilled tomato soup all over me..."

"I was seventeen and a bit enthusiastic about finally being able to use magic at home," Remus mutters.

"Oh, James and Sirius used to Apparate everywhere they could as soon as they came of age!" Lily laughs. "Even to the next room."

"You weren't any better, Lils," James responds, stealing a puri from his wife's plate.

The meal goes well, all of them exchanging stories about their school days. Remus chuckling at James and Sirius's stories of the mischief they got up to.

"You could have used a Disillusionment Charm to avoid Minerva catching sight of you," he comments after their recounting of one such story, which had unfortunately ended with detention doled out by McGonagall. "It wouldn't hold up under close scrutiny in the daylight, but it would work fine if you did it after sunset instead."

"Good idea. Blimey, I wish we'd had you around!" James shakes his head. "We'd have gotten away with so much more if you'd been there, Remus."

"You might have," Remus smiles.

"At least you've all met now. Better late than never, I always say," Hope says. "I've been so happy that Remus has made some friends... it's not easy, coming from another country and he never wants to impose on anyone..."

"Mam," Remus mutters, his neck flushing slightly red. Sirius is briefly reminded of James and his parents, a long time ago.

"You can impose on us all you like," Sirius grins. He hadn't expected that he'd make many new friends as a Hogwarts professor, but he's happy to have met Remus. Even if Sirius leaves Hogwarts after this year, he already knows that he wants to stay in touch with Remus and see more of his small, pleased smiles, hear more of his quiet laughter, have more conversations with him about some law of Transfiguration or principle of Defense or anything else, the two of them easily jumping between English and French and understanding each other perfectly.

"I'm sure he'd like you to - " James starts to mutter, but mercifully cuts himself off with a forced cough. Lily must have surreptitiously elbowed him.

"Anyway, are you ready for the main course?" Sirius asks and before long, everyone is occupied with eating.

"That was delicious," Remus declares, polishing off the last of the chole and bhatura. "James, you said that it was your mum's recipe?"

"Right, but Sirius made it," James says, grinning conspiratorially at Sirius. "When he moved in with my family, my mum taught him all her cooking spells."

"Yeah, because you wouldn't sit still long enough to listen to her. Someone had to keep you from starving," Sirius grumbles, but remembering how pleased Effy had been when he spent Sunday afternoons cooking with her makes his chest warm with happiness. Although they usually had the house-elf cook during the week, Effy had made it a point to always prepare dinner once a week in memory of her own mum back in Punjab. Sirius had originally started helping her out just for the thought of how irate Walburga would be if she knew he was making food himself "like a house-elf!", but now he's happy that he has those memories of Euphemia Potter.

"Anyway, I'm sure that whoever you end up with will count himself a lucky bloke. A man's stomach is the way to his heart, or so I've heard," James says, not-so-subtly raising his eyebrows and glancing in Remus's direction. Thankfully, Lily silences her husband with a look and Sirius is reminded of the first meal that she made for him, a roast so burnt that even a starving Hippogriff would have turned its beak up at it. To say nothing of the first meal that James cooked for Lily. Sirius has considered Obliviating himself multiple times to rid himself of that memory.

Harry looks mortified and Sirius can sympathize. He glances at Remus, hoping that James's words haven't gotten him reaching for the door.

"I've heard that too. I'm sure that, er, the man he ends up with will be quite grateful," Remus responds, frowning slightly.

"I've been after Remus to find someone nice to settle down with. He's not much of a cook himself, but he's halfway decent thanks to my efforts," Hope says with a knowing smile and now Remus seems to be sharing some of Harry and Sirius's mortification, staring down at the flowery pattern of the tablecloth as if he's trying to memorize it.

"I did like the last girl he went out with, she was very sweet... and of course, that other bloke he used to see was quite handsome," Hope continues, and Sirius feels a small glimmer of hope that's echoed in James's widening smile. "Of course, none of them last very long. He's quite picky."

"Mam," Remus mutters again.

"Oh, listen to me go on!" Hope laughs in a way that's reminiscent of James putting on a facade of innocence after he’s carried out some mischief.

"Ready for dessert?" Sirius cuts in quickly before James, Lily, or Hope can test whether it's possible for someone to actually die of embarrassment. Remus gives him a grateful nod.

They retire to the living room to have dessert, which consists of sooji halwa and countless sweets, both Muggle and wizarding, along with chai, the one thing James can make without it ending in disaster.

Lily, James, and Hope quickly occupy the sofa and armchair, leaving the floor for Harry and the remaining couch for Sirius and Remus. He's quite pleased with the way that the sitting arrangements turned out, Sirius thinks as Remus settles in next to him. Couch is a rather generous word for what they're seated on and Remus is nearly pressed up right against him, warm against Sirius's side.

"D'you watch the Quidditch matches, Professor Lupin?" Harry ventures. "Er, Ron and Hermione were wondering who you root for, since you didn't go to Hogwarts..."

"I do. I wouldn't miss all that excitement," Remus smiles around the rim of his teacup. "It's difficult to choose, but..."

"It's got to be Gryffindor," James cuts in.

"Definitely," Sirius says. "If not, you're in thin air, mate. You're in a room with four Gryffindors."

Remus laughs. "I shouldn't play favorites, but... hmm, I lean towards Ravenclaw, actually." Before Sirius can come up with a retort, he smiles warmly at Sirius, his amber eyes dark. He seems very close, his face only a few inches from Sirius and his thigh hot against Sirius's own. "But I suppose you're not far behind."

"Ha. Yeah," Sirius says, his heart beating quickly and his mind empty of coherent thoughts. He could do with Remus looking at him that way some more.

“So, James, you’re an Animagus?” Remus asks, turning to James and Sirius tries not to feel disappointed at the loss of Remus’s immediate attention.

“I am,” James responds. “I don’t try to be all mysterious about it like Sirius though, so you don’t have to guess. I’m a stag.”

“That seems to suit you, actually,” Remus says thoughtfully. “King of the forest, king of the Quidditch pitch.”

“Exactly!” James says brightly. “Sirius, look at how nice he is to me. You should learn from Remus. You know, Remus, he spent a week making fun of me after we first transformed.”

“Only because you spent the first two days trying to walk around on all fours even when you were human. And then because you tried to make a snack of the bushes in the front garden,” Sirius returns. Remus turns back to him with an amused look on his face and Sirius swears that he can feel his stomach going a bit tingly in a pleasant sort of way.

“At least I didn’t try to chase after the - “ James starts, but Sirius cuts him off with a quick Silencio. It’s another very well-practiced reflex.

“Didn’t try to chase after the…” Remus repeats, that thoughtful look back on his face again. He looks up at Sirius, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Some sort of bird of prey... are you a falcon?”

“Sorry, mate,” Sirius says, shrugging and maintaining an air of nonchalance even though the constant proximity to Remus and his face and all his little expressions and the warmth of his lean body are threatening to make Sirius’s heart leap out of his chest. From the amused looks on Lily, James, and Hope’s faces, as well as the embarrassed look on Harry’s face, he’s not doing a very good job of it. “You’ve got one more go at it.”

“Then I’ll make it a good one.”


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey, Remus," Sirius says, entering Remus's office one Friday in June. It's nearly the end of the school year and Sirius is shocked at how quickly it's all gone by. He doesn't think that he'll miss grading and the drudgery of following the same routine almost every day, but there have been plenty of good things about his year at Hogwarts. In fact, one of them is sitting in front of him.

"Sirius," Remus looks up with a smile. "I see you've escaped from your mountain of essays."

"Yeah, I've only gotten partway through it, but I thought that you'd like to take a break with me," Sirius says, withdrawing a bottle of Firewhiskey from his cloak.

"I'd like that," Remus says, shutting the door with a spell and going over to sit by the fireplace with Sirius.

It doesn't take long before they're well and truly drunk, chuckling together over some of the essay answers they've gotten before diving into discussing the obstacle course that Remus had concocted for the third-years. He's bloody brilliant, Sirius thinks and tells him so.

Sirius's world seems to narrow down to Remus and his laugh, the way that he can't seem to stop looking at Remus's face, the lines and scars on his face only adding to his charm, the way that Remus almost self-consciously runs a hand through his greying hair. And it's then that Sirius is overwhelmingly hit with the need to well and truly properly snog Remus, muss his hair up a bit, bring that pink flush to his neck, and get a few shirt buttons undone at the very least.

"I'm quitting at the end of term," Sirius says. As come-ons go, it's rather weak, but Sirius is currently feeling quite weak in the face of Remus Lupin.

"Oh. You are?" Remus frowns, genuinely looking disappointed.

"Yeah, Clearwater’s nearly back to normal, just a bit blue, and he’s fit to teach again. And I got an offer to head a new project with the Experimental Transfiguration wing. They're going to be working on Transfiguring Muggle machines specifically, like my motorbike, and I couldn't refuse," Sirius says. "But I've talked it over with Minerva and I'll still come round to lecture the NEWT students once in a while."

"I'll still see you once in a while, then," Remus says with a slight smile, but his look of disappointment hasn't faded. Sirius stands up and comes over to Remus, sitting down on the arm of his chair so that they're only inches apart. Remus only seems to welcome his intrusion, which Sirius hopes is an invitation.

"Or..." Sirius starts.

"Or?" Remus says, quickly seizing the possibility, his eyes on Sirius's lips.

"Or you can see me as much as you want," Sirius says and leans down. Remus's fingers thread through his hair as he pulls Sirius in, until Sirius is in his lap and their faces are barely an inch apart. He can feel Remus's breath on his lips, can see how dark his eyes have gotten, thin rims of amber around black.

"This has been a long time coming," Sirius murmurs softly. Remus answers that by pulling Sirius in the rest of the way. His mouth is hot and their tongues quickly tangle together, sending heat through the rest of Sirius's body as they kiss and kiss, as Remus threads a hand through Sirius's hair, as Sirius pushes him back into the chair. Sirius tries to shift to get a better position, so that he can get even more of Remus's body against his, and his neck gives a warning twinge.

"Are you okay?" Remus asks, catching his slight wince. He brushes a strand of hair out of Sirius's face, tucking it behind his ear and Sirius is hit with another overwhelming wave of _want_.

"Yeah, I just can't snog like I'm sixteen anymore," Sirius chuckles. "D’you want to take this somewhere else?"

Remus freezes, suddenly looking frantic. "I..."

"Hey, it's alright," Sirius says, quickly getting up. He feels awkward just standing here in front of Remus after their little snogging session and smooths his robes down to have something to do with his hands.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Remus shakes his head. "It’s just... I hope that we can put this behind us.”

"Uh. Sure," Sirius blinks, not quite sure what's just happened. "If that's what you want."

"I really am sorry," Remus repeats, rubbing his eyes and suddenly looking very tired. "I should let you get back to your rooms. I'm sure you must be tired."

-

“Er, Professor,” Hermione lingers after the end of the third-year exam.

“Yeah?” Sirius asks. It’s likely a question about the exam but he doesn’t have to look over her exam to know that she’s probably gotten the highest marks in the year.

“I’ve guessed what your Animagus form is,” she says instead, her dark eyes bright, and Sirius is completely unsurprised. Most of the students had forgotten about it, and the few that remembered had come up with outlandish things, like dragons or hippogriffs. But if anyone would remember it, he supposes it would be Hermione Granger. He’s glad that Harry has made a friend of her.

“Go on, then,” Sirius grins expectantly, crossing his arms.

“You’re a dog,” she says. “Only, er, I didn’t manage to work it out on my own.”

“Did Harry tell you?” Sirius asks.

“Well, not in so many words. He said that he played fetch with you over the Easter holidays and there were only so many animals it could be…”

“Fair enough. So, that’s fifty points to Gryffindor.”

“Thank you, Professor!” Hermione beams, near-bouncing on her heels and whipping out of the classroom in a rush of hair. Sirius smiles. He supposes that this teaching thing has been quite fun even though he welcomes its end. There’s just one thing that he wishes had gone differently, but maybe there's time for that to change. 

-

Feeling a bit peaky from spending all morning grading essays, Sirius decides to take a trip to Lily’s office for some Mint Aeros.

Since she’s in class, her office is empty. Sirius starts to wish that she was here so they could commiserate over grading and whatever happened with Remus, but then a letter on the desk catches his attention.

It’s from Severus Snape.

“Snivelly,” Sirius mutters, scanning the letter. Although Lily had firmly ended the close friendship they’d shared a long time ago, Snape had managed to worm his way back into her life as a professional acquaintance through a combination of groveling and giving Lily access to his latest Potions research. She’d forbidden James and Sirius from acting on the matter, saying that she knew better than the both of them just how vile he could be. Even then, Sirius can’t help the immediate surge of protectiveness he feels for Lily and the anger that rises every time he sees that wanker’s name.

The letter itself is a very dull diatribe of the side effects of Wolfsbane and how a few of them, such as the fatigue and pain, can be treated with unicorn hair extract. Sirius starts to set it down before he reads the last sentence of the letter. “Research is still underway; however, I am interested in the efficacy of this treatment for your patient.”

For her patient? Wolfsbane is used to treat werewolves, get rid of the mindlessness of their transformations and effectively render them harmless, which can only mean one thing. There's a werewolf at Hogwarts. Sirius sets down the letter, his mind spinning as he reviews his students, quickly discarding most of them. If it was someone from any of the Pureblood supremacist families, like Malfoy, they’d have been tossed out by their families already… If it was a Muggleborn, then they’d be spending their summers at Hogwarts since Muggles wouldn’t be able to keep a werewolf over the summer, and he can’t think of any students that are doing that…

“Hey, Black,” Lily enters the room, interrupting his thoughts. She sights the paper that he has in his hands and her mouth falls open.

“It’s not any of the students, is it?” Sirius asks.

“No, it…” Lily starts, then shakes her head. “Look, just forget that you saw that. It’s nothing that concerns you.”

“Fine,” Sirius says, setting down the letter. He thinks that he’s starting to work it out anyway.

As he walks back to his office, turning it all over in his head, it all falls together. The letter had mentioned that even though the Wolfsbane alleviates mindlessness, the worst symptom of lycanthropy, the pain after transformations can be paralyzing. Almost immediately, a blue mug of steaming Ratibida Refecto comes to mind. Polyjuice Potion has been proven to be ineffective when used to imitate non-humans, often resulting in illness and unintended transformative effects. Here, George Weasley’s furry face comes to mind along with Remus’s frantic panic. And finally, the regular trips to visit his ill mother that Remus always seemed to take in his stride with little more than resignation, the way that he sometimes seemed a bit more worn and ragged than usual.

Sirius strides over to his desk, picking up his calendar which keeps itself magically updated with his schedule, including all the classes that he's taken over for Remus. The class he'd taught on nonverbal spells. Full moon the night before. The class he'd taught on Cursed objects. Another full moon. He knows what he'll find if he checks the rest of the dates, that Lily’s substitutions will follow the same pattern.

Sirius puts down his calendar and takes a deep, steadying breath, thinking. He has to approach this the right way, not acting like a berk and barging in without a second thought, like he'd have done when he was younger. He cares about doing this right. About Remus.

Fifteen minutes later, Sirius is pushing open the door to Remus's office. It's the first time that he's ever seen the door shut. Lily must have gone to him immediately and told him that Sirius had seen the letter.

"Sirius," Remus mumbles, staring down at his half-full cup of tea on his desk. He turns away from Sirius to look out the window at the Hogwarts grounds, lush with summer greenery.

"Er, I," Sirius starts as carefully as he can, trying to plan out every word that he's going to say. It's not a habit that he's familiar with. "I know what you are, that is, I mean, you happen to be a..."

"Just say it," Remus pleads, turning back to him. He looks pained, his face drawn. "Please."

Sirius gratefully lets his instincts take over. "You're a werewolf."

Remus exhales, sounding almost relieved. "Yes. That's why I went to Beauxbatons."

"Why's that?" Sirius asks, sitting down across from Remus. Remus stares at him for a few seconds, as if he’s having difficulty absorbing the familiarity of the scene, before continuing.

"France as a whole is less hostile to magical creatures and Beauxbatons is fairly liberal compared to Hogwarts. They regularly admit non-humans like Veelas, vampires..."

"Werewolves."

"Yes. When I was a child, Dumbledore did try to see if he could have me attend Hogwarts, but the school governors wouldn't hear anything of it. So, he put in a word for me with the Beauxbatons Headmistress and I was able to attend Beauxbatons, the only caveat being that I reside in a separate dorm with other non-humans..."

"That makes sense. Was wondering how a Welshman ended up at Beauxbatons," Sirius says. He wonders how things would have turned out if Remus had been allowed to attend Hogwarts. Would he have been sorted into Gryffindor too? Would they have grown up knowing each other? He looks at the man in front of him. At least Remus is here now.

"Yes, well, now you have your explanation. When I discussed this, er, issue with Minerva, she thought it would be best, and I agreed, if we kept it on a need-to-know basis. It was meant to only be her and Lily who knew, since Lily had to brew the Wolfsbane for me...” Remus sighs, trailing off. 

Sirius stands up and walks over to Remus's side of the desk, putting a hand on his shoulder. Remus looks up at him sharply, almost as if he’s scared that Sirius will attack him. Belatedly, Sirius realizes that’s a very real fear for him, but decides to press on as normal because nothing about Remus has actually changed since the last time they saw each other. It’s just his perception of Remus that’s changed, and if he lets something like that color his view of Remus, then he’s no better than his family, is he?

"Well, it’ll be just the three of us that know, then. That’s alright, isn’t it?” 

"I suppose," Remus says dully, but that frown is still on his face. He looks very tired, and the lines on his face seem to have grown deeper within the span of their conversation.

"This doesn't... it doesn't change a thing," Sirius smiles weakly, trying to channel the enthusiasm that he's seen James summon for talks with his team after particularly shit matches. "Er, I'm familiar with being a bit canine every once in a while too."

"You're a dog." It's a statement, not a question. Remus looks at him, a spark of amusement in his eyes even as he's drawing further into himself, arms crossed tightly and jaw rigid.

Sirius half-laughs. "You only managed to work it out after I outright told you. That doesn't count."

"I think it does," Remus says, the corners of his lips tugging up a bit.

"I'll let you have that one if you come with me to the Three Broomsticks this weekend."

"I need to think about it. It's... this isn't easy for me," Remus says quietly, turning away to look out the window again. Sirius squeezes his shoulder and then forces himself to let his hand fall away. He wants to maintain this relationship with Remus, even if it ultimately ends up taking the form of nothing more than friendship. 

"Alright. You know where I'll be."

-

That night, there's a knock on his bedroom door. Sirius blinks sleepily, pulling on his dressing gown, lighting the candles in their sconces with a spell, and going to the door.

Remus is standing in the hallway, the small blue flames in the palm of his hand illuminating his face, casting an eerie glow in the darkness.

"Come in," Sirius says before Remus can open his mouth. Remus looks up at him, his amber eyes intent on Sirius's face. He extinguishes the flames in his hand with a quick motion, steps into the room, and pushes the door shut behind him, his gaze not wavering from Sirius’s face.

"This isn't a problem for you?" Remus says carefully.

"You being a werewolf? I thought I already made it clear that it doesn’t change a thing for me.”

"If you're sure."

"I'm sure," Sirius says, and reaches forward for Remus's hand to show him just how sure he is. Remus takes it, threading their fingers together as they stare at each other and Sirius swears that he can feel his heart leap in his chest.

"I'm sure about this too," Remus exhales. "If it's not already obvious... I’m interested in you, Sirius. Romantically.” 

"I fancy you too," Sirius smiles.

"I'm sorry for the way I acted last week. You know, when we, er..."

"When we snogged?"

"Yes."

"You don't need to apologize for that," Sirius says. He can be a bit of a berk sometimes, but he's not that much of a git.

"It's just..." Remus sighs. "For a very long time, I didn't have access to Wolfsbane. And when an unmedicated werewolf transforms alone, it has no choice but to bite or scratch itself..."

"Is that why you have so many scars?" Sirius asks, his eyes tracing the silvery scars crossing Remus's face. He traces one of them with his finger, the long jagged one that starts on Remus's cheek and crosses down his jawline to his neck. Remus leans into his touch with a quiet sigh, as if he’s been waiting to do that for a very long time.

"Yes. They can't be healed through magic... And I have quite a few of them, many more on my body than my face," Remus smiles thinly. "So when I realized that we both wanted to take things further..."

"You got worried that I'd figure out that you were a werewolf."

"And it seems that my worries may have not been completely founded...” Remus says carefully. Sirius can see the wanting in his intent gaze, the way he looks at Sirius with something just edging on hope because Sirius is looking at him the exact same way.

"This doesn't change anything, like I said. I want you as you are, scars and all," Sirius says, squeezing Remus's hand tightly. "This handsome Welsh werewolf bloke with a shit broom and brilliant record collection who I fancy very much."

Remus laughs happily, almost disbelievingly, as Sirius leans forward to press their foreheads together. "Then let's… let’s do this together?"

“Together.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sirius has never enjoyed spending too much time in his London flat. Even though it’s big and nicely furnished, thanks to good old Uncle Alphard, it’s never felt like a place that he’s been content to remain in for long. More than anything, it’s a resting place filling the spaces of his life that he can’t find anything else to occupy. That’s not to say that it’s anything even a tenth as bad as Grimmauld Place, where it feels like the walls are closing in on him, his mother’s voice wrapping tight round his throat, threatening to choke out all sense of the life that he’s made since he left at the age of sixteen. He doesn’t know how Regulus does it, having lived there for his entire life, but then again, Regulus was never very eager to challenge the boundaries set by their parents.

On the other hand, James and Lily’s house in Godric’s Hollow has always felt like home. Every corner of it is cozy and warm, the smell of Lily’s latest Potions concoctions in the air, James’s Quidditch equipment scattered around the house, and Harry and his friends filling the rest of the space. For years, Sirius has thought that there would never be any other home for him other than Hogwarts, of course.

But standing in Remus’s little cottage in the Welsh countryside, looking around at the freshly painted blue walls, chestnut floors, and shelves overflowing with books, records, and various knicknacks, Sirius thinks that this could be a home too.

“It’s not much,” Remus says, almost self-consciously.

“It’s brilliant,” Sirius says. He goes over to one of the shelves, picking up a picture of Remus with a blond woman who even he can tell is gorgeous and a thin, dark-haired man that looks even paler than Remus. Both of them have their arms around Remus and they’re all laughing.

“Those were my two closest friends at Beauxbatons, Belle and Luc,” Remus explains. “We were in the non-human dormitories together. She’s half-Veela and he’s a vampire. Even though I was the only werewolf to study there in the last twenty-five years, they never made me feel like an outsider.”

“Do you keep in touch with them?” Sirius asks. The picture looks quite old, only a few threads of grey in Remus’s hair and his face mostly unlined. If Sirius had to guess, he’s probably around twenty in this picture.

“I should,” Remus sighs. “I haven’t been to France in a long time.”

“You should take me,” Sirius says, turning around. He steps forward, putting his hands on Remus’s waist and kissing him on the mouth. “I want to meet them, all your French mates. And I want you to show me around, show me everything.”

Remus beams at him, in that way that is almost surprised yet brimming with enthusiasm, the smile that makes Sirius feel as if a sun is blooming in his own chest. “I want to show you everything too.”

“Speaking of everything…” Sirius raises an eyebrow as he inches his hand under Remus's shirt, enjoying the feel of his waist, his skin thrumming with heat.

“You dog,” Remus laughs before proceeding to snog him very thoroughly and then properly introduce him to the bedroom. 

-

Remus reluctantly accepts Sirius’s offer to come by the morning after July’s full moon with much persuasion.

“I don’t want you to see me like that,” Remus says hesitantly.

“I’ve already seen you like that before, remember?” Sirius returns immediately.

“I didn’t mean for you to…”

“And you didn’t mean for me to find out that you were a werewolf, but it’s happened and everything’s alright. More than alright, in fact, there’s snogging and a bit of shagging.”

“I won’t lie, that is quite nice...” Remus smiles thinly.

“Anyway, if I was ill and needed you to take care of me, would you be alright with me telling you to stay home just because I didn’t much fancy you seeing me sweaty and puking? No, you wouldn’t. And I can’t just sit at home knowing you’re poorly.”

“Alright.” There’s a hint of relief in the way that Remus’s shoulders relax.

There’s no Floo in Remus’s cottage, as Floos are banned in werewolf-owned dwellings in Britain. Sirius had fumed when he’d heard about the law, immediately writing to his cousin Andromeda who was in Magical Law. According to her, overturning any law is a ridiculously slow and contrived process, just like everything else in the the damn Ministry. In the meantime, he has his motorbike, and the sight of it in the sky makes Remus wave weakly as Sirius approaches, even though he's hunching over in pain on the front step.

“Hey, what’re you out here for?” Sirius asks, jumping off his motorbike and helping Remus up.

“Fresh air helps,” Remus says softly even as he winces, gritting his teeth.

“We can leave the doors and windows open while you lie down on that comfy sofa, is that alright?”

From there, he gets Remus situated while he gets a measure of pain potion ready, with a side of Honeydukes’ Finest to remedy the taste. Sirius sits on the other end of the couch as Remus drinks the potion down.

“Thank you,” Remus smiles as he accepts the bar of chocolate. “How did you know that chocolate is my favorite?”

“You give it to students whenever they do well, and Lily said that you kept eyeing that drawer of hers.”

“She was right, although you're one to talk. You and your Mint Aeros,” Remus murmurs, looking content even though exhaustion has etched itself deep in the lines of his face. Sirius takes the empty mug and sets it on the coffee table, then smooths Remus’s hair back from his temple, kissing him softly on the forehead. He’s used to wanting a man, but he’s not so used to this feeling. To the overwhelming need he feels to take care of this man, show him that he’s loved, be there with him through thick and thin.

“Feel like a nap?” Sirius asks. “I could do with a little kip myself.”

“That would be nice. I just don’t feel like getting up,” Remus responds, glancing in the direction of his bedroom.

“You don’t need to,” Sirius says and summons the dog from where it rests always in his hindbrain. The dog looks up at the man, the wolf, wagging its tail.

“You’re quite adorable. I don’t know how I ever thought you could be any other animal. If I saw you anywhere, I’d know that you were Sirius Black,” Remus laughs. “Come up here, then.”

-

And from there? They take it a day at a time, a moon at a time, becoming more tangled into each other’s lives with every shared moment. 

Remus goes with them to the Quidditch World Cup, cheerfully imbibing Butterbeer as he listens to James’s constant flow of Quidditch commentary along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione's predictions. He accompanies Lily to the Muggle cinema, James and Sirius both never having quite gotten used to what Lily calls the films’ “special effects”. Remus comes to dinners with Mary and Peter and Dorcas and Marlene, easily becoming part of the group as if he's been there right from the start. Sirius often ends up at Hope’s little flat in Cardiff during the school year, coming up with Welsh-Indian-French fusion dishes and happily drinking in all of her stories of Remus growing up. Even Regulus deigns to come to a Quidditch match with them, giving Remus nothing worse than a rebuke for supporting the Catapults instead of his Falcons. Remus takes Sirius to France and Sirius takes him to India and then Spain and then Egypt and then the rest of the world. 

Without fail, after every full moon, Sirius comes to Remus, and after one such morning they both wake up to find a stag in Remus’s kitchen in a Puddlemere United kit, having just come from a morning practice with the team. Remus laughs so hard he cries, embracing a wild-haired James. Soon, Remus does not spend the full moons alone.


End file.
